The Interferon-alpha (also called Interferon-alphacon1 or IFN-alphacon1 or INFERGEN) is an immune molecule, which has been shown to work against different viruses (anti-viral). Interferon is the standard of treatment for patients with chronic (infection that has been there for a long time) hepatitis C (a virus which affects the liver over many years) by giving it for 6-12 months. It has also been used for a shorter time of up to 14 days, in a small study for patients with respiratory disease caused by SARS and seemed to help these patients get better more rapidly. It also has been shown to stop different Influenza viruses from growing in test tubes and in lung tissue. It has also been shown to decrease the immune response to prevent it from over-reacting to viruses.